Archive for October 2011
Web Design – Joomla Versus WordPress
October 15, 2011 | 
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Both Joomla and WordPress are established web design applications used by millions of websites across the world. Web Design Companies and web designers have in general supported various open source software for developing websites. Joomla and WordPress are two of the most popular ones and have established communities on the internet. There are hundreds of quality forums and blogs dedicated specifically towards the use of Joomla and WordPress for designing websites. Other web design and content management systems including Drupal and Typo3 have also proved popular and effective. However WordPress and Joomla seem to have an edge over the others in terms of global popularity and use.
Many web design agencies and design professionals are proficient with Joomla and WordPress and are able to customise the software to meet the specific needs of a business. Both these platforms offer the flexibility to extend the core features to meet individual requirements. This article offers an insight into which software is more suitable for developing your website.
WordPress versus Joomla
Usability
WordPress probably scores higher in terms of usability, both from an end user as well as developer’s point of view. Due to its simplicity WordPress is easy to learn and get acclimatised to. However this is also due to the fact that Joomla offers many more features than WordPress and offers more advanced functionality. The new version of Joomla, the 1.5x version has made significant improvements in usability.
SEOMOZ.org, a leading web design and technical blog recently published an article where the author stated that “if you are willing to trade some extra learning time for a more advanced site, go with Joomla.”
Versatility
WordPress is better described as a blog software whereas Joomla is an advanced content management system. WordPress is excellent for publishing content. Joomla on the other hand offers many powerful features. There are Joomla components that target almost every industry and market.
If you have limited time to set up a website or if your requirements are simple then WordPress is probably the better choice. However if you would like to develop or design an advanced website with powerful features then Joomla is more suitable.
Search Engine Optimisation
WordPress is known for its search engine optimisation advantages. By default WordPress is search engine friendly and webpages tend to rank high on Google. On the Joomla needs some customisation in order to target the full benefits from search engines. With the right customisation however, Joomla websites are equally capable of ranking high on search engines like Google. Any expert Joomla developer will design a website to be SEO friendly.
A Joomla websites can be customised a accordingly to overcome any SEO shortcomings.
Scalability
Joomla is easily scalable. Joomla can be used to design small websites as well for developing complex functionality on websites. WordPress is great out of the box and will work excellent if the only purpose of the website was to publish informational content. WordPress is great out of the box but limited somewhat for developing complicated web applications.
Joomla can be scaled as required. Almost any custom feature or application can be developed in Joomla. Joomla has been designed for extending and modifying to meet specific needs. WordPress is fairly limited. There are add-on features available for WordPress as well in the form of WordPress plug-ins but they do not compare to the advanced features that can be developed as add on Joomla modules or components.
Integration
Joomla has clear advantages with regards to extending and integrating the website with other third party applications of software. Joomla has a well formed and powerful API that developers can use to extend the software or integrate with other systems as required. Joomla websites can be easily integrated with other sources or websites.
Development of bespoke features
Joomla is the clear winner here. Customised development can be done in WordPress as well as Joomla. However Joomla’s development framework is more suitable for developing bespoke features for the website. There are many powerful add-on components that can be easily installed on a Joomla website.
Web designers and developers are able to develop additional customised features with ease using Joomla’s powerful development API. WordPress can also be easily extended however development API is not as powerful as Joomla’s.
Administration Features
WordPress has an easy to use, light weight administration panel. It is excellent if the main purpose of the website is solely to publish information. The administration panel is limited to updating or adding new content or media. Joomla has a powerful administration panel that offers a range of features such as e-commerce (Shopping cart), order management, enquiry management, User management, document management, multi-lingual content, etc. Joomla offers endless possibilities are and the administration panel is fully customisable for specific requirements.
Posted in web design | 
Tags: Content Management System, Global Popularity, Web Design Companies | 
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Best Website Building Software
Are you and entrepreneur and want to start a successful online business and don’t know what the best website building software is?
Ask yourself this “if I have the best website building software will I have a site that will be visited by many people”?
There is so much more involved then a great looking site. A few examples would be: Good Content, Proper Keywords, Good Hosting etc… Most people spend years and a small fortune trying to build a website that will be visited by alot of potential customers.
4 Key points that must be followed in order if you have any chance of having a successful website.
1) Content
2) Traffic
3) PREsell
4) Monetization
Providing great Content will set your site up to receive Traffic. PREselling is building a true relationship with your new visitor. Treat them like people and not just another click. They are at your site because they are interested in what you are offering, which is great Content.
Monetizing your visitor should not even concern you until the previous steps are completely carried out.
There is so much more you will have to consider and it will take years and a lot of money. The last time I checked the Keyword Research Tool that most successful people use it was over $300. You might say “why do I need this?” I’ll tell you. Each page of your website will have keywords associated with it. If you use keywords that everyone else are using it will be hard to get to the top of search engines. Keyword Research Tools will tell you the number of people that typed in that Keyword and how many competing people are using it for there website.
You want to have all the tools and information that you will need to have a successful website. Many people will promise the world and deliver crap. Pick a company that will over deliver beyond your wildest dreams.
There is a great company that I stumbled upon that provides every tool you could possibly imagine. They will even help you pick a Topic to design your website around.
Research what the costs of building a successful website would be and then check out this company. You will be so IMPRESSED.
Check it out. Become the Pro who Knows! Costs of building a website can vary substantially for what you get. Get the BEST Website Building Software today!
Website – How to Make Your Website Unique and Special?
Your website will be hit only if you can make it memorable, this means, the content you have on your website should be attractive and interesting for the visitors. If not the content should be able to provide guidance and information to the visitors. There are some very famous sites that are making excellent business with these tricks.
There are some other requisites for making your website memorable, these have been mentioned thousands of times, like small name for a website, a name that appears fun and easy to remember, it should also showcase what your website is all about. These have been successful tips, however, nothing beats personalization of your website, there are many websites giving news and links to blogs, this is good too, for the information seeking visitor this is a great boon.
There are some websites, that have put up large advertisements, which make browsing difficult than interesting, these advertisements will pop up with the mouse movement and stay with you till you leave the web page in frustration, this is sure to put negative marks for the website.
Also found some websites which put up a pop up window, people might end up clicking the pop up window because they want to see the website rather than the pop up. This marks sly business policy rather than a smart one, even biggies like Google rate such pages lower.
Apart from all the above your website requires to look professional and neat, you can include excellent graphics, interactive characters, etc. to your website. You should make your website as spacious and free from cramming links as possible, this way you will know best visitors, only those genuinely interested will visit your website.
You need to make it look neat and well formatted, you should make it properly aligned so that readers can follow the links properly and will not waste time searching for these. Another innovative way to make your website look attractive is to use innovative font for your website. A different look and a different perspective will definitely have impact on all those visiting your website.